Illinois Law Mandates Safety Studies at Fatal Intersections

"Despite a decrease in miles driven, last year the nation saw the highest number of traffic deaths in thirteen years," writes Courtney Cobbs, with fatalities increasing seven percent between 2019 and 2020. In Illinois, that number was 16 percent. "Tragically, in Chicago, on-street fatalities spiked by a full 45 percent last year."

"During the last state legislative session, state representatives unanimously passed SB 1791, a bill with the goal of reducing pedestrian fatalities on state roads." The bill "mandates that the Illinois Department of Transportation conduct a traffic study following 'the occurrence of any [crash] involving a pedestrian fatality that occurs at an intersection of a state highway. The study shall include, but not be limited to, consideration of alternative geometric design improvements that the Department deems necessary.'" The bill supposedly also includes cyclists.

According to Cobbs, the bill has a few issues: "there’s no funding mechanism attached to the bill to ensure that corrections are made to prevent future crashes," and "while the mandate to conduct a traffic study sounds good, it ignores the larger issue of the engineering formulas used to design our roads. Oftentimes these formulas put driver convenience and speed ahead of safety for all road users."